Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AN ODE, by BEN JONSON



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AN ODE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Helen, did homer never see
Last Line: So much my subject drowns the rest.
Subject(s): Beauty


Helen, did Homer never see
Thy beauties, yet could write of thee?
Did Sappho on her seven-tongued lute,
So speak (as yet it is not mute)
Of Phao's form? Or doth the boy
In whom Anacreon once did joy,
Lie drawn to life, in his soft verse,
As he whom Maro did rehearse?
Was Lesbia sung by learned Catullus?
Or Delia's graces, by Tibullus?
Doth Cynthia, in Propertius' song
Shine more, than she the stars among?
Is Horace his each love so high
Rapt from the earth, as not to die?
With bright Lycoris, Gallus' choice,
Whose fame hath an eternal voice?
Or hath Corinna, by the name
Her Ovid gave her, dimmed the fame
Of Caesar's daughter, and the line
Which all the world then styled divine?
Hath Petrarch since his Laura raised
Equal with her? Or Ronsard praised
His new Cassandra, 'bove the old,
Which all the fate of Troy foretold?
Hath our great Sidney, Stella set,
Where never star shone brighter yet?
Or Constable's ambrosiac muse
Made Dian not his notes refuse?
Have all these done (and yet I miss
The swan so relished Pancharis)
And shall not I my Celia bring,
Where men may see whom I do sing?
Though I, in working of my song,
Come short of all this learned throng,
Yet sure my tunes will be the best,
So much my subject drowns the rest.





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